Jul 1, 2016

Remembering Mets History: (1967) Bud Harrelson's Walk Off Winning Run

Sunday July 2nd 1967: An afternoon double header at Shea Stadium featured Red Schoendiest’s first place (& soon to be World Champion) St. Louis Cardinals (44-29) in town vs Wes Westrum’s ninth place Mets (27-44).

The Mets sent Bob Hendley to the mound to face off against Dick Hughes on front of 37,100 fans.

In the top of the 2nd, the Cards Lou Brock had an RBI single to make it 1-0. In the 3rd Hendley served up a two run HR to Mike Shannon & was relieved by Ron Taylor. Taylor allowed a run on Shannon’s sac fly in the next inning. In the 4th inning, the Mets Ed Kranepool hit a solo HR off the Hughes, his fourth of the year. After Ron Swoboda walked, Ken Boyer doubled bringing in the Mets second run.

In the home 7th, with two outs the Mets connected for three straight base hits. Bud Harrelson, Larry Stahl & Tommy Davis all singled with Harrelson scoring the third run. In the 8th Ken Boyer hit his second HR of the year to tie the game.The Mets went through seven pitchers in this game, remember this was the first of a double header. The game stayed tied going into the bottom of the 9th inning.

With one out, Bud Harrelson lined a base hit to center field off pitcher Joe Hoerner. Nelson Briles came in to relieve Joe Hoerner facing the Mets; Tommie Reynolds. Harrelson got a good jump, took off & stole second base, his fourth of the year. The Cards backup catcher, Johnny Romano was behind the plate as main backstop; Tim McCarver was to start in the second game. Romano made an error on the throw to second & Harrelson advanced to third base. Briles then walked Reynolds & threw a wild pitch on ball four. The always alert & aggressive, Harrelson scampered home with the games winning run, as the Mets had a wild walk off win.

Trivia: Harrelson’s importance to the Mets went way beyond the statistics. His defense was one of the best of his era, in a time when short stops didn’t hit. Harrelson made two All Star appearances, despite his low batting averages, he drew walks & had solid on base percentages. He also received votes for the MVP Award three times in his career. He was a smart, scrappy base runner, stealing over twenty bases twice.